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yes, I meant English is not my native language, my native language is Russian.

"во что бы то ни стало" и "как бы то ни было" - are both quite literary

как бы то ни было - anyway, in all circumstances, in any case...
во что бы то ни стало - no matter what, certainly,...

no longer in use

"чуть ли не" - is slightly more emphatic, "ли" is sort of a "language gasket" here.

Rumor had it that it was no less than Zhukov's nephew who... (и так далее)

PS. I am not a native speaker

BTW, you can't translate чуть не separately, you can translate the whole sentence in...